Life Insurance Is Cheaper For Vegetarians

A reflection on the news that Vegetarians will be offered a cheaper life insurance policy than their meat eating counterpart. How far will these benefits extend?

Vegetarians are set to benefit from reduced life insurance premiums. Recent surveys into the death rates reveal that vegetarians are less likely to suffer major illnesses than people that eat meat.

As a result Animal friends Insurance have offered a 6% discount on their life insurance cover for veggies. The company is a not-for-profit enterprise. The managing director Elaine Fairfax was quick to demonstrate the sense in the company's decision to offer reduced rates for vegetarians (which includes fish eaters). She stated that, "The risk of vegetarians suffering from some cancers is reduced by up to 40%" She also stated that the risk of vegetarians suffering from heart disease is reduced by up to 30% compared to their meat eating counterparts. The reduction in policy premium costs is said to reflect these statistics.

Non-smokers

Insurance premiums are generally determined with three main categories in mind. These are the three main variables from a mortality table: age, gender and use of tobacco. Non-smokers are considered to be a much safer bet for Insurance companies than smokers. As a result policies have always been cheaper for non-smokers and conversely more expensive for smokers.

This has been generally accepted as a fair way of determining prices and as a result has become widely accepted by the customers. Many people have been keen to see these benefits for healthier people to be extended to benefit those that adhere to a healthy diet and active lifestyle.

Healthy lifestyle

Many people have pressed for insurance providers to consider a variety of external factors when calculating the cost of a life insurance policy. It is well known that smokers are more susceptible to life threatening illnesses and the premium costs are reflected accordingly.

It is also widely accepted that people that exercise regularly and those that maintain a healthy diet are significantly less likely to suffer from serious illness. However at present policy providers do not take this into account when calculating the cost of a life insurance policy premium.

Critics have noted that if insurance providers were to start calculating there premium costs based on diet and activity they would have to penalise the unhealthy policy holders by raising the cost of their premiums. To provide bespoke insurance a company would need to make profits elsewhere and will need to balance good offers to the healthy against less attractive offers to the unhealthy.

It might also make it difficult for insurers to measure a policy holder's lifestyle and companies say that if they were to monitor their policy holders it would cost a great deal and raise the cost of life insurance.

About the author: Shaun Parker is an expert on all types of Insurance. He looks into the variety of different Life Insurance policies available on the market.